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This plan would increase the size of the overall facility by more than 200,000 square feet to the north and west sides of the current building, including space for storage and anti-recidivism programs for inmates.

Madison County Sheriff John Mehr, in green, answers a question about the proposed Criminal Justice Complex expansion at a committee meeting on Sept. 28, 2017 in Jackson, Tenn.(Photo: Cassandra Stephenson)

The new expansion to the Madison County Criminal Justice Complex could cost as much as $49.5 million, the Community Corrections Partnership Committee announced Friday.

The committee unanimously voted to recommend that the County Commission approve a plan to build an additional 524 beds at CJC, which would not exceed a cost of $49,407,622.

"I think we're making the best proposal that we can with the information that we've got to deal with," Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris said.

This plan would increase the size of the overall facility by more than 200,000 square feet to the north and west sides of the current building, including space for storage and anti-recidivism programs for inmates. It will take approximately two years to complete.

The proposed expansion of the Criminal Justice Complex is shown in color, while the existing building is outlined in black and white at the bottom left. This schematic depicts the full $49.5 M expansion option, which would add 524 beds to the existing facility.(Photo: Photo by Cassandra Stephenson, Graphic courtesy of HFR Design Rosser)

This figure has been long awaited, as the committee began meeting about four years ago at the recommendation of the state. Madison County jails were running at between 40 to 60 percent above capacity when the county began researching expansion options. Within the last two weeks, the CJC facility housed a record 425 inmates, 122 over its approved capacity. If the county does not continue to show progress in addressing the overcrowding issue, it could eventually face a costly federal injunction, according to Madison County Sheriff John Mehr.

The committee's recommendation will be reviewed by the Financial Management Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 2, and Harris said they will call a County Commission meeting within the next 10 to 12 days to review the proposal.

"This is a big step, a big investment for this community, so it needs to be absolutely fettered out, [so] everybody understands what we're doing, everybody understands how we're going to pay for it, and so on," Harris said.

The $49.5 million "not-to-exceed" cost means that the contractor Lashlee-Rich and all subcontractors agree not to charge the county over that cost for the work done on the expansion. This figure — which is somewhat fluid, according to Harris — is locked in until Oct. 19, giving the County Commission 20 days to consider and make their decision.

Gary Deaton, chairman of the County Commission, said approximately $33.5 million has been borrowed via bond issue to improve the jail so far. Deaton said the county would have to come up with approximately $12 million in additional funds to pay for the recommended expansion plan.

This schematic depicts the mezzanine of the proposed CJC expansion. If fully funded, the expansion will include areas A and B in addition to both areas of additional housing pictured at the bottom right. In the least expensive option, the additional housing units will not be built.(Photo: Photo by Cassandra Stephenson, Graphic courtesy of HFR Design Rosser)

The committee will also present the County Commission with two alternate plans. The first, which costs just under $46 million, would add 476 beds to CJC — a total addition of 126,492 square feet. The second alternate plan adds 428 beds and 118,108 square feet, costing just over $42 million.

Jim Hart, a jail management consultant with the County Technical Assistance Service, helped perform an analysis on Madison County jail's needs at the beginning of the process. Jail Administrator Capt. Tom Rudder said the recommended addition of 524 beds is higher than what Hart projected, but the jail's recent occupation numbers have also been running higher than projected.

Harris said experts recommend that new jails be built with excess capacity.

"That's what all the experts recommend, to build 15 to 20 percent more than you anticipate your needs are going to be, because over time the studies have shown the population continues to grow," Harris said.

Rudder said the county will still make use of the original CJC building once the expansion is built, keeping about 280 beds and utilizing some of the space for classrooms and program space. If the County Commission approves the committee's recommendation, CJC should have just over 800 beds after the expansion is complete.

Deaton said based on the numbers and recommendations, it makes most sense to him to build the largest expansion option.

"The highest number is 524 beds, the lowest is 428, and it's a $7 million spread there, and it's a 96 bed difference," Deaton said. "I'd make a recommendation that we go ahead and build the recommended amount of 524 beds at $49,407,622."

The 3-dimensional depiction of the proposed expansion to CJC shows all but two additional housing units that may or may not be built, depending on which plan the County Commission selects. These are marked as "future housing" and the plans still include utilities that would support adding more cells in this location if a future expansion is needed.(Photo: Photo by Cassandra Stephenson, Graphic courtesy of HFR Design Rosser)

Fighting recidivism through expansion

"I hope, and I think, we're looking at planning something that will go into the future," Harris said. "We're hoping that some of the programs that we're going to be able to offer [are] going to help cut down on our recidivism rate."

Madison County's current recidivism fluctuates between 80 and 84 percent, according to Harris.

"[That] means that people here today, give or take, about 80 percent of them have been in this jail before," Harris said. "That is just awful. That's atrocious."

All versions of the expansion plan include additional space to hold programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Harris mentioned a program called Inside Out Dad, run by Southwest Human Resource Agency in multiple counties. He estimates the recidivism rate among graduates of the program to be between 14 to 15 percent.

"I used to think ... 'You do the crime, you do the time; lock them up, throw away the key,'" Harris said. "There certainly has to be punishment with everything ... when somebody breaks a law."

He added that he's since learned that it costs around $27,000 per year to house an inmate.

"Any [time] that we can find an alternate program that gives them some life skills [so] they [can] become a productive citizen, they don't have an 80 percent chance of being back in here," Harris said.

Madison County currently has inmates from its Penal Farm in the Inside Out Dad program. It will graduate its largest class next week.

Rudder and Mehr said the long-term plan is to move the inmates from the Penal Farm into a portion of the original CJC facility. The not-to-exceed cost of the expansion includes $500,000 for use in renovating the existing CJC facility to accommodate these plans. Inmates currently in the Annex will be moved into CJC upon completion of the expansion.

By consolidating the Madison County jail system into one facility, and offering more programs for inmates, the committee hopes to improve jail operations.

"There's no doubt that as far as the operation of this jail, as well as the Sheriff's Department administering this, that everything that's going to be on this campus is going to be operationally less expensive than what we have today," Harris said.

Reach Cassandra Stephenson at ckstephens@jacksonsun.com or at (731) 694-7261.